Hot Over Current Issues

Firstly, I like Fishie's attitude. She met with a disappointment, admitted it, and as she immersed herself in all that varsity work, she forgot about it -- hopefully -- and could still laugh over it! Atta, girl, that's the way to go!

I think that's the best way to deal with the disappointments of life: Face up to it, admit how you feel, then immerse yourself in something new or absorbing and move on. After a while, you can even laugh over it! He! He!

Secondly, I really must say something about the Elizabeth Wong pictures. Malaysians are a bunch of voyeurs! They are too cowardly to exhibit but they love to watch! What if that were your mother's or sister's pictures? You wouldn't look. I didn't look out of respect for a fellow woman.

Our communal ties are so loose that we don't see another human being as someone connected with us. Not connected, that person just becomes a mass of flesh, not a human being, just someone you can fool around with! Shame on the person who took those pictures and abused the sanctity of the privacy of the relationship by passing the pictures for circulation. It wasn't as if she -- or he -- were married and having an affair or buying sex! What's wrong with sleeping in the nude?

There's that saying: What goes around comes around. I hate to think what will happen to those who took advantage of her vulnerablility. One day, I hope they will learn -- the hard and painful way -- that people are to be respected and protected when vulnerable.

Thirdly, I can't believe what the Umno Youth members did to MP Karpal Singh! Intimidating him by ganging up and surrounding him outside Parliament House! My goodness! A gang of young men -- punks, rather -- picking a fight with an old man in a wheelchair! How low can some people sink? And, all that Khairy Jamaluddin could say was that there is "real, explosive anger" at the grassroots level? Is he giving his tacit approval to such thuggish behaviour or is he saying that he can't control his members? If the latter, then, why is he the leader? He should step down!

People may be upset by some of the things Karpal Singh says but deal with it through democratic means and according to the law. Not by taking the law into their own hands. This is yet another example of political swaggering that has come threateningly close to bodily harm. And, what has the police done about it? I would like to see what the police are going to do to.

All of Malaysia is clamouring for democracy, except -- it appears -- for a few who still want the old uneven playing field where they can flaunt their political might over the powerless and get away with it. God forbid they ever get into seats of government. What dread would befall this nation it they did! It would be a case of giving garlands to monkeys!